Laptop Advice

[Lonewolf08]

Hey all. I'm in the market for a new 14" laptop and I'm looking for suggestions. Looking for a 14" because of the balance between power and portability. That and my wife has a 13.3" and I want something slightly larger. I'll likely use it for couch surfing and travel. Plus some moderate gaming, like Starcraft 2 and WoW.

So far my front runners are the HP Envy 14 and Dell XPS 14, but I'm not really in love with either of them. I'd rather not spend much more than $1,500.00, but I'm open to great suggestions above my budget. I'd briefly considered the 2010 Macbooks, but they seem a little outdated now and I'm looking to buy in the next week or so, which rules out the next revision in the spring.

Also, minirant, why are there so few consumer grade 14" laptops with resolutions higher than 1366x768? I'd jump at a Thinkpad 410 in a second if not for the business class gfx card.

Anyway, I'm looking for any and all suggestions you guys would offer. Thanks in advance!

[mikeymike]

As much as I hate to suggest Sony, but I've seen Sony portables with very-high-res screens, to the point that using them then going back to a standard LCD makes my eyes do funny things.

Personally I go for Toshiba, but I don't know if they do computers that small.

[travbrad]

Personally I go for Toshiba, but I don't know if they do computers that small.

I've been impressed by Toshiba laptops in general as well. They seem to have pretty solid components and build quality. I've only had experience with their "full size" laptops though, so I'm not sure what kind of GPU they offer in smaller sizes.

[Dashak]

I just ordered a Lenovo Y560p. There is a 14" version with very similar specs.

[mikeymike]

Yep, I don't mind Lenovo either, except I haven't bought any in ages because they only seem/ed interested in doing 32-bit Win7.

[Dashak]

The one I ordered has Windows 7 HP 64-bit, a Sandy Bridge quad core with hyper threading, and an AMD 6570m - which is a rebadged version of the 5770. There should be a 14" version... but I can't find it anywhere except for Lenovo's site.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246006&cm_re=2630qm-_-34-246-006-_-Product

[UberGerbil]

Yep, I don't mind Lenovo either, except I haven't bought any in ages because they only seem/ed interested in doing 32-bit Win7.

They seem to have switched over to 64bit for all the new models -- even the x120e (x100 successor) appears to be running x64 (based on the vids from CES).

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

Just saw this on slickdeals... not recommending it (just because I don't know anything about it other than this link) but sounds like it might fit your needs:

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/45299/h ... n-7-64-bit